Broodmother
by x.Janele.x
Summary: First day, they come and catch everyone.  A telling of Hespith's nine days in the clutches of the darkspawn.  One-shot.


Broodmother

Disclaimer: This story contains ideas, characters, and places created by EA and Bioware. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: This is my first attempt, ever, at horror. I'd love to hear your opinions on how you think I did, so PLEASE review! Also, there may be a few mistakes, but if I find any then I'll change them. I wasn't really comfortable having my BETA read this one xD.

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_First day, they come and catch everyone._

We were trapped. Branka had led us all the way to this accursed city in her maddening search for the Anvil of the Void. We were no closer to it than the day we started- almost two years ago- or so it seemed. Earlier, the halls of Bownammar had been eerily quiet, but the stench of darkspawn and their rot had been overpowering. Now it was fairly obvious that the halls had not been empty. The darkspawn had been lying in wait, eagerly awaiting their chance to kill us, eat us, whatever they did to those unfortunate enough to be caught. It would not be long now until we found out just what the creatures had in store for us.

We had just set up camp for the night in one of the remote rooms off of the main hall. There had been one door, which we had shut and barricaded, taking every available precaution. We were all sick of the Deep Roads now, and wanted to return to our warm homes in Orzammar. All except Branka, our Paragon, who had led us off on this wild chase. Until she found the lost treasure that she was looking for, no one could return home. She insisted she was getting close, though, even as a new, maddening gleam appeared in her eyes.

The darkspawn had attacked without warning. The doors had been flung open under the might of several ogres, and the barricades were nothing for the large beasts. Then the horde of darkspawn had come, too many to fight. We had been rounded up before we even knew what had hit us; some of us had not even had a chance to leave our bedrolls. Oddly, Branka was not there.

_Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat._

As the morning set in, we could do nothing but huddle together in fear. Our weapons, supplies, and all of our possessions had been taken. A few of the men had managed to sneak a dagger into their boots- but what good were a few daggers against an army of monsters? Those daggers proved slightly useful though, when the darkspawn set on us and dragged a few of the men outside of our corral. The men with daggers put up a great fight- one even managed to kill seven darkspawn before he was thrown to the ground and covered with hungry mouths. Those of us who were left cried and shut our eyes, wrapping our arms around each other as we tried to block out the sounds of our men being eaten alive.

The feast continued, with handfuls of men being pulled from the group and thrown into the horde. It seemed to last for hours upon hours, until finally the screams died out and all that was left were shiny white bones and pools of blood. Not a scrap of meat remained. Not an eye, not an organ, nothing. Those of us remaining, mostly women but some men as well, finally understood what our fate would be. We could only stare with wide eyes at each other, words having escaped us.

Our voices, however, still worked very well. The darkspawn enjoyed their feast, and then set upon those of us remaining for some sport. When their fists and legs had stopped bruising us, and we finished our own bouts of shouting, we could do nothing but clasp hands tightly and pray to our ancestors to save us.

_Third day, the men are gnawed on again._

It became hard to tell when one day ended and another began. The lighting never really changed in the Deep Roads, but we had always been aware of the time. Now, the signal of another day beginning was when almost all of the remaining men were devoured. The creatures didn't even bother removing them from our corral this time, they just set upon us and began ripping and shredding the flesh of our loved ones. A few, grinning hideously, pried open our mouths and shoved pieces of our husbands' flesh down our throats. Those who gagged or threw it back up were force fed again and again until it stayed down. They grabbed one girl, the first one they were going to eat, apparently, but instead of eating her they took her away, along with our four remaining men. Then they all left, leaving us sitting amidst bones and blood, with only our tears and a foul taste in our mouths.

_Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate._

They didn't return the next day, and some of us began to hope that we could survive. We were all starving at this point, as they had been leaving us with nothing to eat except a few corpses of their own who had been killed in small fights over who would get the next morsel. We had all heard stories back in Orzammar about those lost in the Deep Roads who were forced to ingest darkspawn meat to stay alive, and so, cringing and disgusted, we managed to swallow a few bites of the tough meat. It was disgusting, but if there was a chance we could escape, we had to try. Our survival instincts were too strong- we should have taken our own lives.

_Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn._

The next day, when we had dared to hope for our lives, they returned and crushed that seed before it could even begin to grow. The girl they had taken was nowhere to be seen, but we didn't dwell on that. They scuffled a bit more, leaving a few dead at our feet, and then grabbed another female. They didn't take her with them this time, though. They dragged her only a few strides away and pried open her mouth, force feeding her bits of tissue, muscle, and dripping flesh from the newly dead bodies at our feet. She choked, cried, and threw up several times, but that didn't deter them. For hours they fed her, the blood running down her chin in rivulets and bits stuck between her teeth. Anything she threw up they made her eat again. Finally, when she must have had a full belly, they stopped, and waited, as if to make sure her stomach wouldn't reject anything more. After a time they left us again.

Some of us managed to eat a few mouthfuls ourselves, just to stay alive. Others couldn't bear the thought of eating after what they had witnessed, and chose to starve for longer. A few wondered what the point of all this was, why we hadn't been eaten yet like our men. Did they have another purpose for us?

_Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams._

The next day when they returned, they chose the same girl from among us. The taint they fed her with the previous day was now more apparent on her skin. Gray-black blotches and purpling bruises covered part of her face and the bits of her arms visible from under her clothing- as for the rest of her body, we didn't want to know. Her eyes even seemed to be a bit glassy, but that could have been the flickering, low light playing tricks on our eyes.

The darkspawn repeated the feeding, but it went smoother today. The meat stayed down, and she didn't cry as they fed her more. Once again the blood dribbled down her chin, but today a flickering tongue reached out and caught it. Today, she raised some of the flesh to her mouth and ate it herself. The feeding even took longer, if that was possible, leaving her belly swollen with the amount she ingested.

Hours passed after the darkspawn left us again, and the poor girl seemed to be reacting badly. The discolorations on her skin spread, and we could tell that the glassy appearance of her eyes was something more than a trick of the light. She began to writhe on the ground, hands clawing madly at the floor and at her stomach. There was nothing we could do to help her, we didn't have any idea what could be done, and we were all too afraid to go very close. As we tried to fall into a fitful sleep, she began screaming. It echoed in our ears all night, as we prayed faithlessly for some respite from the madness.

_Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew._

It had become routine at this point. Each day they had come, each day they had taken the girl and done terrible things to her. Today was no different. They came, they selected the same girl, and they fed her. It seemed they were gentler with her, but this could always have been a product of our desensitization. We had witnessed our husbands eaten before our eyes, we had their flesh shoved down our throats, we had been beaten, and we had watched for days the feeding of Laryn, and the slow but sure spreading of the infection in her skin. What else could seem horrifying to our eyes now?

After her feeding, a Hurlock tipped her head back and violently slit the wrist of a smaller Genlock. The darkspawn's blood poured out into her open mouth, splashing across her face, a few stray drops sliding down her neck. When that wrist seemed to be empty, it was done to the second, and then finally the Genlock's throat was slit, and Laryn crouched over the falling lifeblood, lapping it up like an animal. For each Genlock drained this way, it seemed to our eyes that her infection got a bit darker, spread a bit more. Her breasts and stomach seemed to take on the blood she was ingesting, and all swelled to be much larger than physically possible.

That night, we stayed as far away from Laryn as we could.

_Eighth day, we hated as she is violated._

Laryn was watching us, all throughout the night. We huddled together even tighter, clasping hands, our prayers forgotten. Even though some of our faces had begun to swell and darken the same way Laryn's had, we still hoped that somehow we could escape.

When the darkspawn came that day, Laryn went to them willingly. They fed her gently again, and she drank blood again, swelling even more. Her infection, if it could be called that, was a motley shade of gray and covered, as we soon discovered, all of her body. After her feeding, she prostrated herself before the darkspawn, and the nearest savagely tore off the flimsy remains of her clothing. Raucous shouting broke out among the ranks, and the darkspawn began fumbling with their armor and fighting with each other to get to Laryn first.

They took her, one by one, thrusting into her hard and fast until they found their release, and then another one stepped up for its own pleasure. Laryn spread her legs willingly, head lolled back peacefully, as her now gigantic breasts and stomach bounced with each thrust the darkspawn made.

We couldn't watch it. We turned our faces away, horrified, and many were sick to their stomach. The process seemed to go on forever and then some, as what seemed to be the entire horde emptied their seed into Laryn's willing womb. Throughout the process we looked at each other's faces, wondering who had been tainted the most. Some of us already had glossy eyes and facial discolorations, just from eating enough darkspawn to stay alive. Whoever's taint was strongest would be next.

_Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin._

She no longer looked like a dwarf. Her entire naked body was gray, swollen, and incredibly large. More than one pair of breasts were visible down the front of her body, and her legs could barely hold up her increasing weight. Even so, as morning dawned and the darkspawn came with a dwarven male with them, she set upon him with a savagery, digging her nails into his face and tearing it to shreds. She lapped up his blood before tearing an arm clean off and picking the bone perfectly clean. He had been her husband.

When he was nothing more than bones, her eyes turned to us. We froze, and then started to run, but we didn't get far before the darkspawn grabbed us and held us out to her. She went through half of our number that day, growing ever larger until she could no longer move, and then the darkspawn brought those of us who we tainted the least to her.

_Now she does feast, as she's become the beast._

Here I am, the only one left. My taint had been strongest so the darkspawn did not feed me to the creature that has taken root where our camp once stood. They fed me earlier today, shoving their own flesh down my throat. I should have fought more, I should have done something. The thought of taking my own life has become more appealing than letting myself become like Laryn. She is rooted in one spot now, tentacle-like appendages sprouting from her body and pulling her food to her. She is always ravenous, and they are always bringing her bodies. A hump has slowly begun forming on her back, swelling and pulsing as the days pass. Seven pairs of breasts line her front, and they too are growing as the days go by. I do not know what the gestation period is for darkspawn, but I fear I will soon find out.

Until then, I will escape into the tunnels and fallen halls of Bownammar. There, I will either become one of these accursed creatures, or I will die. Perhaps I will find Branka, who left us to our doom. I can only hope that I will have the courage to take my own life when the time comes. Hope is all I have left now.

_That's where they come from. That's why they hate us... that's why they need us. That's why they take us... that's why they feed us. We tried to escape, but they found us. They took us all, turned us. The men, they kill... they're merciful. But the women, they want. They want to touch, to mold, to change until you are filled with them. They took Laryn. They made her eat the others, our friends. She tore off her husband's face and drank his blood. And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and turned gray and she smelled like them. They remade her in their image. Then she made more of them. Broodmother..._


End file.
